Libyan army official demands to dissolve parliament

TRIPOLI, May 18 (Xinhua ) -- Head of Libya's Military police colonel Mukhtar Fernana on Sunday night demanded to dissolve the interim parliament, the General National Congress, and expel " terrorists" from the capital Tripoli, according to his press release.

Fernana said the army officials had decided that the country's constitutional assembly should take over the parliament and keep acting Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thinni's government until a new general election is held.

A militant group led by retired General Khalifa Haftar made an assault on Libya's parliament on Sunday afternoon. Some of the militants dashed into the parliament building to expel the lawmakers, forcing a session to adjourn.

Crossfire erupted near the parliament building and the roads from and to the Tripoli International Airport, leaving two people dead and more than 60 injured, according to officials from the Ministry of Health.

Fernana said that the attack on the parliament was not a coup, but "a correct way following the revolutionary spirit."

"We announce to all that the country can't be a hotbed or an incubator for terrorism," he said.

Local media said that Fernana was echoing Haftar who led his self-proclaimed "national army" into Libya's second largest city Benghazi at dawn on Friday to purge the city from "terrorists." Libya's interim government later defined Haftar's action as a " coup."